Alabama has one of the nation's highest incarceration rates, and the costs of decades of explosive growth in the state's prison population are increasingly consuming funds that could support health care and other important services, according to a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a nonprofit research group in Washington, D.C.

Alabama is one of five states with more than 600 people in prison per every 100,000 residents, the CBPP study finds. The state's incarceration rate has jumped by 349 percent since 1978. ACPP executive director Kimble Forrister urged state officials to support safe, sensible reforms of Alabama's sentencing and parole policies to reverse that growth and to invest the savings in Medicaid, child care and other services that help low-income families improve their lives and escape poverty.

"Stronger support for health care, mental health care and substance abuse treatment can build stronger communities, cut costs and reduce crime in our state," Forrister said. "Alabama should invest in our people now so we can enjoy a brighter future tomorrow."